DEEP reopens much of Pachaug State Forest

Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection will be reopening the areas of Pachaug State Forest that were closed on August 27 due to the presence of Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) in mosquitoes, DEEP said in a news release Tuesday afternoon.

While portions of Pachaug State Forest have been reopened to the public after being closed due to the presence of mosquitoes carrying Eastern Equine Encephalitis, Mount Misery Campground and Horse Camp in Voluntown remain closed.

The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection on Aug. 21 closed the two campgrounds in the forest and, later that week, expanded the area while the state conducted ground spraying to reduce the number of mosquitoes.

“We sprayed once and it was very successful, reducing the number of mosquitoes by 90 percent,” Dwayne Gardner, DEEP spokesman said.

The mosquitoes, however, were not eradicated, and the DEEP is still urging recreationists to take precaution.

“The amount of mosquitoes has gone down, and the virus activity in the mosquitoes has decreased also, but we still think it’s not prudent for people to be sleeping in tents,” Gardner said.

The DEEP is not planning to spray again this season, leaving it to Mother Nature to take care of the rest.

“Once we see no virus activity and once we see a hard frost” we will open the rest of the forest, “but it’s probably not going to be this season,” Gardner said.

While there has never been a recorded human case of EEE in Connecticut, DEEP isn’t taking any chances.

“This is the time of year when people are most likely to become infected with West Nile virus and EEE,” said Department of Public Health Commissioner Jewel Mullen.

And such has been the case in some neighboring states, including Massachusetts.

“We are fortunate — it’s been in all the states (around us),” Gardner said.

Patrick McCormack, health director for the Uncas Health District, said he has only received two calls from concerned people: a recreation director who wanted to know how far his activity area was from the closed park land, and a family looking to use one of the open private campgrounds and wanted to ask some questions.

Both Hampton and Plainfield also have trapped mosquitoes testing positive for the virus.